Grumman F9F Panther Variants

F9F-2B – Version fitted with underwing racks for bombs and rockets. All F9F-2s were eventually so modified, and the B designation was dropped.

F9F-2P – Unarmed photographic reconnaissance version used in Korea.

F9F-3 – Allison J33 powered version produced as insurance against the failure of the J42, 54 built. All converted to J42 power later.Redesignated F-9B in 1962.

XF9F-4 – Prototype used in the development of the F9F-4.

F9F-4 – Version with longer fuselage with greater fuel load and powered by J33 engine. Most re-engined with J42s. F9F-4s were the first aircraft to successfully employ pressurized bleed air, tapped from the engine’s compressor stages, and blown across the surface of the slot flaps, simulating a higher airspeed across the control surface, and thus achieving a decrease in stalling speed of 9 kn for takeoff and 7 kn on power approach for landing.Redesignated F-9C in 1962.

Grumman F9F Cougars On Display

Argentina

United States

126670 – in storage at the National Air and Space Museum, Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility, Suitland, Maryland.

128109 – National Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola, Florida.

127236 – New Iberia Veterans Memorial Building, New Iberia, Louisiana

F9F-6P

unknown – The Town of Tonawanda Veterans Memorialin the Town of Tonawanda, New York. The aircraft has been on display since 1959 and in 2009 was refurbished when the new Town of Tonawanda Veterans Memorial was created.

127484 – Former Marine Corps aircraft has been a ground display for children to play on in Boysen Park in Anaheim, California, since about 1960. For safety reasons, in 1967 the aircraft was coated in gunite to cover sharp edges that had developed

127490 – Previously assigned to VC-61; was on static ground display for children in Larsen Park in San Francisco from 1959 to 1967, when it was replaced with a F-8 Crusader.

F9F-7

130763 – Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, New York.

130802 – Wings of Eagles Discovery Center in Horseheads, New York.

F9F-8

131063 – Texas Air Museum in Slaton, Texas.

131230 – National Naval Aviation Museum, NAS Pensacola, Florida.

131232 – Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.

138876 – Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum in Pueblo, Colorado.

141117 – Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York, New York. It is on loan from the National Museum of Naval Aviation. It was built in Grumman’s Bethpage factory in 1955 and retired from active service in 1965. It previously served as a gate guard for Naval Weapons Station Earle, and later was displayed at a playground in Wall Township, NJ. Once restored, it will wear the colors of fighter squadron VF-61, which flew from USS Intrepid in 1956.

144275 – Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. It is on loan from the National Museum of Naval Aviation and is painted to represent the narrator’s aircraft for the U.S. Navy Blue Angels precision flight demonstration team.

Grumman F9F Cougar Cutaway

“Men of the Fighting Lady” – Full Movie (1954)

Men of the Fighting Lady (also known as Panther Squadron) is a 1954 Korean War drama film starring Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon, and Keenan Wynn. The screenplay was written by U.S. Navy Commander Harry A. Burns, who had written a Saturday Evening Post article, “The Case of the Blinded Pilot”, an account of a U.S. Navy pilot in the Korean War, who saves a blinded Navy pilot by talking him down to a successful landing.

Blue Angels circa July 1956 flying Grumman F9F-8 Cougars

F-0366 F9F Land Catapult Trials

US Navy Jet Fighter Tactics – 1951

“Aerial Tactics: High Speed, High Altitude Flight Problems” was produced by the Navy Department during the Korean War. This unique film is compelling for two reasons. First, it features truly outstanding color footage of McDonnell F2H-2 Banshee & Grumman F9F fighters operating singly and in squadron formation, dancing agilely among towering cumulus clouds and flying off carriers. Second, it opens a fascinating window on US Navy carrier launched fighter operations and tactics at the time of the Korean War. Video produced by Zenos Warbird Videos

F-0048 Blue Angels Land Aboard Ship Video

Docudrama of the Grumman F9F-6 Cougar and The Blue Angels which flew the F9F from 1955 to 1958. From the archives of the San Diego Air and Space Museum.